


Flowers

by sleepymccoy



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies), Star Trek: The Original Series
Genre: Fluff, Humor, M/M, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-05
Updated: 2016-01-05
Packaged: 2018-05-11 20:43:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5641234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sleepymccoy/pseuds/sleepymccoy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jim makes Bones and Spock go to a concert together, deciding they'd have a good time. Basic plot based on an episode of House MD.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Flowers

McCoy was sitting on the couch in Jim's room, reading a summary of the latest Denobulan genetic research. They had a layover on Earth for two nights, not long enough to do anything of use, like visit his family, but enough for some down time. Jim was off at the gym preparing himself mentally to deal with Starfleet admirals.    
The front door swished open, and suddenly the room was full of panting and one smelly Captain.    
"Bones!" Jim called in greeting.   
McCoy leaned his head back on the head of the couch. "What?" he yelled.    
"That conference I have tonight has been delayed, I'm not gonna make the concert," Jim shouted across to him as he threw his gear in the laundry.    
McCoy sighed, "Alright, well, I don't wanna go alone. Chuck me your padd, I'll see if Scotty's free." He threw his journals down, turning and leaning over the back of the couch to try and see Jim as he struggled to take his socks off while holding a set of weights and his pants.   
"Ah, if you could - shit," Jim fell over. McCoy watched in vague amusement as Jim tried to catch his rolling weights while stubbornly not letting go of his half-removed sock.   
"You ok?" McCoy called.   
"Yep!" Jim's face popped up. "Why don't you ask Spock?"   
"Ask Spock what? If you're ok?"    
"I'm fine, Bones," Jim sat up and finally pulled off his socks. "Ask Spock if he wants to go to the concert. Bit of Earth culture, he'd like it."     
McCoy frowned and shook his head, "Ah, Jim, I dunno. I think the two of us would have a better evening if we just didn't see each other."   
"Well that's bullshit," Jim said, 'Oh, don't make that face at me, you're always in a better mood after an hour or so with him. Besides, Scotty has a research thing he's going to tonight. Take Spock.” Jim bounced around grabbing a glass of water before moving over towards McCoy.    
McCoy groaned and rolled backwards so he was lying across the couch. "But he's such a pain!" he said, looking beseechingly at Jim, who was leaning over the back of the couch, grinning at him.   
"Bottle of whisky says you have a good time,” Jim said, waggling his eyebrows.   
McCoy rolled his eyes, "Oh, you bastard," he grumbled under his breath. "Fine," he said confidently, "but when I come back from the worst night out, you better not get me the cheap shit. For a night with Spock I deserve something decent. At least 20 years old."   
Jim's smile grew steadily larger while McCoy grouched, "20 years. Deal!"

\----------------------------------------

Jim was reading the minutes from a meeting he'd missed earlier that week, but would be expected to comment on. Polite conversation at this level was ridiculous. No one cared what his opinion on Rigellian mining policies was, but he was expected to have a well-informed and non-controversial opinion anyway. Fuck off.

It was growing quite late, he had expected McCoy back 45 minutes ago. Looked like he might get a bottle of whisky out of this after all.    
As Jim was pondering exactly what sort of whisky he'd demand, the door opened, and McCoy walked in.   
"So how was your date?" Jim asked, grinning his 'smarmy little bitch' smile, as Uhura had called it after a particularly trying day.   
McCoy swung right into it. “We were at a concert, right? A concert. You know the point of concerts is to listen to music. You wanna know what Spock does at a concert?" he asked, pausing more for breath than an answer.   
"Oh boy…" looked like Jim may not get that bottle of whisky.    
"Spock likes to talk at a concert. He's far more interested in the history of a song than the song itself! Lecturing me on how Mozart's embellishments were an unnecessary and illogical addition to the music. All revolutionary music is illogical at the time, that's why it's game changing!" McCoy was pacing back and forth, in full rant.    
"How'd he take that?" Jim asked, incredibly amused.   
"Well he disagreed, that’s for sure! I have no interest in debating the emotional merits of music with a Vulcan. It's worse than debating a computer, at least they're swayed by reason! Spock makes his damned decision before he even raises the issue and from there it's just a pissing contest to see who can list the most defenses!"    
"Why're you 45 minutes late then? If you weren't interested in debating him, I mean.”   
"45? I hadn't noticed the time.” McCoy paused for a moment, then continued as if nothing had happened. “You know what he did? Once we got to the hotel foyer he started searching up more facts about the concert! So I'm standing there like an idiot listening to some pointy eared waistcoat listing only semi-relevant facts! You'd think for someone so stubborn he wouldn't get so damn distracted by inane trivia."    
"You've done that before! Looked up the history of things. You've made me sit there and listen. You two have more in common than you think!” Jim grinned.   
“You take that back! And I have not,” McCoy said, throwing himself down on the couch next to Jim.   
“Have too,” Jim said, his grin widening.   
“I - shut up, I'm complaining. Let me complain in peace!” 

“You’re not complaining, you’re smiling. You had a fun night,” Jim said, poking McCoy in the chest.   
“Fun!” McCoy repeated in outrage, “You think I enjoy his bullshit? He-”

“Yes,” Jim interrupted.

“Huh? Yes what?” 

“Yes, I think you ‘enjoy his bullshit,’” Jim grinned, nudging McCoy with his elbow.

McCoy glared at him in silence for a moment. “I am going to bed,” he said, then swiftly stood up and left the room. “You owe me a bottle of whisky!” he called out from inside his room.

“Oh, Bones, don’t be like that!” Jim spun around only to see the door to Bones’ room slam. Jim sat back down on the couch and sighed.

\----------------------------------------

The alarm clock clicked over to 07:00, and began blasting the weather forecast at Jim. He groaned, mumbled, then swore, smacking the alarm until it shut off.

It took a few minutes for him to wake up properly and stumble out of his room. He walked into the living room, and beelined past McCoy, who was sitting on the couch, towards the kitchen for cereal and juice. Sitting down at the kitchen table with his breakfast he glanced over at McCoy, who hadn’t moved yet. 

“Wassup wi’ you?” he said around a mouthful of cereal.

McCoy looked up. “I - Ah… I got flowers?” he said weakly.

Jim craned his neck a bit and saw some blue floral arrangement next to McCoy. “They’re cute. Match your eyes,” Jim said, grinning. He had another mouthful of juice. “For Spock?”

“No, they’re from Spock. For me,” McCoy said, a glint of panic entering his eyes as he said it.

 

 

Jim went silent. He put his spoon down and walked over. “You’re fucking with me…” he grabbed the flowers form McCoy and read the inscription, “‘I enjoyed our evening together, and would be willing to spend time with you again. x’ Holy shit, is that a kiss? D’you think he knows x’s mean kisses?”

A low croaking sound came out of McCoy’s mouth. “Oh, God, I was hoping I’d imagined the x,” he said quietly. “And of course he knows what it means, it’s Spock, he researches the hell out of everything. Oh, God.”

Jim stared absently at the flowers. “D’you know what this means?” Jim asked.

McCoy’s face filled with dread, “What?”

“He likes you.”

“What?”

Jim rolled his eyes, “He thought it was a date, he had a good time, he put a kiss on the card! He likes you.” 

McCoy was silent for a moment. “Are the x’s even kisses? Maybe they’re the hugs?” he ventured. 

“No, they’re the kisses.”

McCoy groaned and took the flowers off Jim and re-read the card. He groaned again and put the flowers down on the table.

“Are you alright, Bones?” Jim asked.

“M’fine. Yeah, m’fine. Christ,” he leant forward and rested his head in his hands for a moment. “Right,” McCoy said, before pushing himself up and heading off to his room.

“What’re you doing?” Jim called after him. 

“Going swimming!” McCoy yelled back, amidst the sounds of him getting changed. “Pool’s on this level, yeah?”

“Ah, yeah.” 

“Great,” McCoy stalked past him in his bathers and out the door.

Jim looked back at the table, where the flowers lay. He chuckled, “Shit.”

\------------------------------------------

Jim stood at his door, searching his bag for his key. He knew they were in here. He’d had a shit time at the meeting and just wanted to get in. As he grumbled and looked, the door opened, revealing a very somber McCoy.

Jim grinned. “Cheers! How was your day?” he asked, walking past McCoy to the couch.

“Stressful,” McCoy said. 

“I’ll bet,” Jim said, glancing over at the flowers still on the table. “Figure out what you’re gonna do about Spock?”

McCoy threw himself down on the couch next to him, “I was thinking about what you were saying last night. And you’re right.”

“‘Course I am,” Jim said cheerfully. He looked at McCoy. “About what?”

“I enjoyed myself last night. With Spock,” McCoy said.

Jim paused for a moment then looked at McCoy seriously, “What’re you saying?”

“I had a good time. And clearly he did too,” He gestured towards the wilting flowers. “I can’t stop thinking about him,” McCoy said.

Jim tried to hide a smile. “In what way?” he asked.

McCoy flailed his arms, avoiding making eye contact, “Maybe he’s right. Maybe this is worth exploring.”

JIm leant back. “It could go wrong,” he warned.

“He sent me flowers!” McCoy said, gesticulating furiously at the bouquet. “How do I do this? What do I say?” 

Jim thought for a moment. “Get him drunk,” he suggested confidently.

McCoy ignored him, “I’m not gonna say anything. I’m just gonna walk up to him and I’m gonna kiss him on the mouth!”

They were both silent for a moment while Jim absorbed this.

Jim nodded slowly, “It’s a bold move. But you're right, speaking is risky. You'll just piss each other off if you speak.

McCoy held his arms out helplessly. “I’ll either get a boyfriend or get transferred!” he said sarcastically.

Jim looked at him silently for a beat.

“Ok” McCoy nodded, “Yeah, ok.” He got up to leave.

“God speed,” Jim said. McCoy looked back at him, looking faintly sick, and nodded once more before speeding out of the room.

Jim sat, shocked. He could hear McCoy’s footsteps retreating quickly down the hall. Holy shit, this was happening. Years of unrelenting sexual tension would finally be resolved! 

He heard footsteps approaching his room quickly. The door opened with a bang.

“You bastard!” McCoy yelled, pointing at Jim in anger. “You were gonna let me do that!?” 

Jim struggled to keep his chuckle contained. “You made a compelling argument,” he said.

McCoy looked about ready to explode. “You sent those flowers to me!” he yelled, waving his arms angrily.   
Jim leant forward desperately. “Yes, because you took him to a concert! Because, actually, you do want to march down there and kiss him!” he said, pointing in the general direction of Spock's room.

McCoy flailed his arms wildly for a moment. “No! I don't!” he spluttered.

Jim nodded. “Yes, you do!” he said loudly.

McCoy paused for a moment, then lowered his arms slowly, looking like he’d been hit with the biggest realisation of his life. “You’re right,” he whispered.

Jim stared. He didn’t think that would work. “Seriously?” he asked.

McCoy looked at him like he was a complete idiot. “No,” he said.

Jim rolled his eyes, sighing, and lay down on the couch in resignation.

“You’re a jerk,” McCoy said, turning towards his room.

“Goodnight,” Jim called out to him.

McCoy raised his hand in farewell and said, “I’ll buy you a bottle of whisky,” and shut his door. 

Jim grinned.

**Author's Note:**

> Based on the sup plot in the House MD episode Act Your Age, season 3 episode 19. I am artist and author. See more from me on my tumblr sleepymccoy.tumblr.com


End file.
